A gateway to discovering and tracking the descendants of the original New Netherland Brouwer progenitors, namely Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, Jan (or Johannes) Brouwer of Flatlands and Willem Brouwer of Beverwijck (Albany).

Please note that while all of those listed above are certain descendants of George Brewer, we only list the earliest known ancestor that has been proved through the use of traditional genealogical research. The hope here is that posting the list in this way will encourage others who may have additional information or insight on the ancestry of the incomplete lineages to contact us at the Brewer DNA Project, or to directly contact those listed below. Please also feel free to use the Comments feature below.

In September 2015, Richard Brewer, former administrator of the Brewer DNA Project, presented this following report based on the Big-Y test results of our first four participants: 2d Applications of FTDNA's Big-Y Test to our Brewer DNA Project. I would refer all interested descendants of George Brewer to this report.

In addition to those listed above we do have a seventh kit from another descendant of George Brewer. The Big-Y testing by FTDNA is complete and we are awaiting results of analysis from YFull. There are currently over sixty members of the Brewer DNA Project who belong to the "Lanier-Brewer" Group (see the DNA results chart). In other words, they are genetic descendants of George Brewer. We would encourage others in this group to take the Big-Y test, and to follow up with analysis from YFull.

**Bill Brewer is the contact and he relates that research supports Bryant Brewer (b.1799, VA) as a certain direct ancestor. There is "strong evidence" that he is the son of a Thomas Brewer who had a brother named James. Analysis of the test data has led Richard Brewer to suggest that Thomas Brewer is then most likely a son of William Brewer (d.1774-76) who had a son James Brewer. Bill would like to hear from anyone who can provide more information or evidence for this ancestry. He can be contacted directly.

Friday, May 6, 2016

Benjamin Brewer is covered in the post of November 16, 2013, "Some Unplaced Brewers of Western Pennsylvania and Kentucky." Benjamin was born 24 April 1755, married Catharine Mellinger in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in 1781, and died in Washington County, Indiana on 6 May 1834. It was suggested in that post that if we could locate a direct male descendant of Benjamin Brewer who was willing to take a Y-DNA test, we would be able to confirm whether Benjamin was a descendant of Adam Brouwer, of Jan Brouwer, or of some else all together. That has now been accomplished.

Janet Brewer, a co-administrator of the Brewer DNA Project, contacted Bill Brewer, a confirmed descendant of Benjamin Brewer and Catharine Mellinger. The results of Bill's Y-DNA test (67 markers) leaves no doubt. Bill, and therefore his direct male ancestor, Benjamin Brewer, are descendant of Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, Long Island.

It is also apparent from both the Y-DNA test result data that Benjamin Brewer is more closely related to Peter Brewer of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and to Henry Brewer/Henrick Bruer also of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Descendants of all three of these Brewer ancestors share a value of 16 at STR marker DYS456. All other tested descendants of Adam Brouwer (with the exception of two others) show a value of 17 at this marker.* A fourth descendant of Adam Brouwer who also has the value of 16 at DYS456, is a descendant of William Brewer of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is very likely that Benjamin, Peter and Henry Brewer are either brothers, or if not, very close cousins. William Brewer of Philadelphia, who shares the value of 16 at DYS456 but differs at other markers from the descendants of Benjamin, Peter and Henry, may share a common ancestor with these three who is likely found among either the sons or grandsons of Adam Brouwer. As Benjamin Brewer was born in 1755, and Peter Brewer was born between 1750 and 1760, while Henry Brewer was born in 1763, it is likely that the three are great-great grandsons of Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, Long Island. My own hunch is that the three are descendants of either Adam's son Adam Brouwer (b. 1662) or of his son Willem Brouwer (b. 1651).

With this, the possibility that Benjamin Brewer might be a descendant of Jan Brouwer of Flatlands can be put aside. That notion is now impossible. There are some who have suggested that Benjamin was a son of Benjamin Brewer and Maria Lane (married in 1767 at Shrewsbury, New Jersey). That theory is also discredited by the Y-DNA test results as Benjamin Brewer of Shrewsbury was a great-grandson of Jan Brouwer of Flatlands.

Thanks goes out to Bill Brewer for joining the Project and taking the Y-DNA test. Although we are still unable to identify the father of Benjamin Brewer (and of Peter and Henry), we at least have the answer to an important component of the search to find just who that person might be. If there are any researchers of this group of Brewers from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania out there who have any information or evidence that would shed light on the ancestry of these Brewers, we would like very much to hear from you. As always, details on those mentioned above can be found on the Brouwer Genealogy Database website.**

*Of the two exceptions one has a value of 18, and the other a value of 16.
**Note that a major disruption at RootsWeb from mid February through mid March required a complete re-upload of the BGD pages and so the current edition is dated April 6, 2016. Data on Benjamin Brewer's descendant is not included on the current DNA Analysis page.